Aratashiki toshi no hajime ni toyo no toshi shirusu to narashi yuki no fureru wa

新しき年の初めに豊の年
しるすとならし雪の降れるは

Roma-ji: Aratashiki toshi no hajime ni toyo no toshi shirusu to narashi yuki no fureru wa
English Translation: At the beginning
of the year that is new,
a year of plenty—
that is surely what it shows,
this snow that has been falling
Meaning: This snow falling at the start of the new year must be a sign foretelling a year of rich harvests.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3925

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "In the first month of the eighteenth year of Tenpyō, white snow fell heavily and lay several inches deep. Thereupon the Minister of the Left, Lord Tachibana, leading the Major Counselor Fujiwara no Toyonari Ason and the princes and courtiers, went to the residence of the Retired Sovereign (the west court of the Chūgū palace) and served by sweeping the snow. An imperial command was then issued, seating the ministers, councilors and princes in the great hall and the lords and officials in the south gallery, and wine was bestowed at a banquet. The sovereign said: "You princes and lords, compose a little on this snow, and each present your poem." A poem by Fujii no Muraji Moroai in response to the command"
The snow falling at the start of the new year must be a sign of an abundant harvest—a poem celebrating snow as an auspicious omen. In the first month of 746, on a day when several inches of snow had fallen, the Minister of the Left Tachibana no Moroe led the princes and courtiers to the residence of the Retired Sovereign Genshō and served by sweeping the snow. This is one of the poems composed on the theme of snow at the banquet that followed, in response to the sovereign's command. Snow at the start of the year was believed to herald a good harvest, and on that belief the poem blesses the new-year banquet.
The poet, Fujii no Moroai, was an official of the Fujii clan of immigrant descent; little else is known of him.
The left note adds that eighteen others, beginning with Fujiwara no Toyonari, also presented poems in response to the command, but these were not written down at the time and were lost. It also tells how Hata no Chōgen, unable to compose a poem, was teased by Tachibana no Moroe that he should pay with musk instead, and fell silent.

First line, "aratashiki": "new."
Second line, "toshi no hajime ni": "at the beginning of the year," the new year.
Third line, "toyo no toshi": a year of abundant harvest, a phrase celebrating the prosperity of a land founded on farming.
Fourth line, "shirusu to narashi": shirusu means to show as an omen, and narashi is a contraction of naru rashi—"it seems to foretell." The poem pauses here, with the evidence placed last by inversion.
Fifth line, "yuki no fureru wa": "the snow that is falling." Book Twenty, 4516, the final poem of that book, "At the beginning of the new year, in early spring, as today's snow falls, may good things pile up," also celebrates new-year snow as auspicious and rests on the same belief.
Author: Fujii no Moroai
Source: Manyoshu
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